1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for tracking personal and business information and specifically to computer software and hardware optimized for easy use in tracking information.
2. Description of the Related Art
The tracking of information occurs in many different fields and environments. For example, tracking is required for financial information, for mileage information, for inventory information and for many other purposes.
In the financial information field, computer programs, such as Quicken.RTM., Managing Your Money.TM., Microsoft Money.TM., or Simply Money.TM., help users to track financial transactions using a computer. These computer programs are designed to work the same way that users tend to manage their finances at a desk where bills are gathered and paid and where finances are otherwise kept in order. These programs satisfy the needs of users that enter batches of transactions serially for the same account.
By way of example and for batch processing of a checking account, users typically enter all check transactions for the account at one time. Transactions for other accounts tend to be entered at some other time. Computer programs designed for such batch processing use a multi-line "register" metaphor for data entry. With such a "register" metaphor, a user picks the account register, such as a checking account register, from a list of accounts and then remains in that account register to enter a series of account transactions. The user enters data for one transaction into one line of the multi-line register, saves it, and then returns to the next "line" in the register where the user enters the next transaction for the same account. The sequencing method is from line to line in a multi-line register for a single account. Such methods are optimized to allow users to select the account for a series of transactions and then enter each of the transactions for that account. Such methods frequently require a number of steps preceding selecting an account for any register entry and hence are not designed for easy switching between accounts.
While the register metaphor works well for desktop batch-entry of data, the register method of tracking data is burdensome where transactions are not entered in batches. In the mobile environment, for example, tracking based upon batch methods tends to be inefficient. Mobile devices such as DOS-based palmtop computers, for example, Hewlett-Packard HP95LX or HP100LX palmtop computers, can track finances using desktop financial programs with register metaphors that are cumbersome when ease of account switching is important.
In the mobile environment, users move frequently from one merchant to another and often switch from one type of payment instrument to another. For example, a user may use cash as the payment instrument for a cash account at a gas station, may use a check as the payment instrument for a checking account at a grocery store, and may use a credit card as the payment instrument for a charge account at a restaurant. In such a mobile environment, users need to track account transactions quickly and therefore need to switch quickly and easily between payment instruments or accounts.
In light of this background, there is a need for improved transaction tracking.